Kori Ellis
05-02-2005, 12:29 AM
Brothers separated by sport they love
Web Posted: 05/02/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA050205.1D.BKNspurs.ginobili.232922762.html
San Antonio Express-News
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Keeping tabs on a little brother who works out of town is challenging. Keeping tabs on a little brother who shuttles around the country trying to help his team stay alive in the basketball playoffs, while you are doing the exact same thing — but about 6,000 miles away — that is Sebastian Ginobili's challenge these days.
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has two older brothers, Sebastian, 32, and Leandro, 35. The latter has retired from basketball. But Sebastian, or "Sepo," as he is commonly known, plays for Deportivo Libertad, a team in the first division of Argentina's professional basketball league.
Thanks to Sebastian's outstanding play — he is a penetrating guard and adept passer like his little brother — Libertad advanced to the semifinal round and tipped off a best-of-five series against defending-champion Boca Juniors on Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
On Wednesday, Manu began Game 2 of his playoff series on the bench and emerged victorious. On Thursday, Sebastian finished Game 2 of his series on the bench in a disheartening loss. Neither brother saw the other's game.
"We talk on the phone no more than once a week," Sebastian said. "I see a few of Emmanuel's games, but they do not show many of them on TV here. Sometimes the schedules do not agree and we are playing around the same time. Recently, he has been able to listen to my games on the radio, over the Internet from the little radio station in my city."
Libertad is based in Sunchales, which sits roughly 370 miles northwest of Buenos Aires and has a population of about 20,000. Sebastian returned to Argentina in May after playing in Spain for two years. He missed Argentina. He misses his little brother, too, but since Manu left for Europe seven years ago, Sebastian has grown accustomed to distance.
"For example, out of the year, we see each other 20 or 25 days," Sebastian said. "It is very little time. But it's like anything, you are going to get used to it. We have been separated like this for a while, we take advantage of those 25 days as much as possible and then, thanks to technology, we have daily contact. We chat on the computer all the time."
But this time, because both brothers traveled after Game 2, they had yet to swap stories by Saturday.
Sebastian's hair is lighter and his eyes are blue, but the two look enough alike that people sometimes shout out to him, "Manu, Manu!" on the streets of Buenos Aires. And ever since Manu led Argentina to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Sebastian fields more questions about his sibling than about himself.
"Before, it was only basketball reporters, but when he began to achieve all these things, the spectacle grew to include all the sports reporters and others," Sebastian said. "But it is a source of pride for me. It doesn't bother me if you ask me about Manu. I am happy to talk about him because first, we do the same thing and second, because he is my brother."
The Ginobili family is from the coastal town of Bahía Blanca and all three brothers started their respective professional careers at a club there called Estudiantes. Their father, Jorge, played basketball and became president of the Estudiantes while they were young. Sebastian played professionally with Leandro and later with Manu. But Leandro and Manu, separated by eight years, never played on the same pro team.
"All three of us did the same things growing up," Sebastian said. "Our second home was the club (Estudiantes) and already, from a young age, each of us had a basketball in our hand. Everyone knew us as basketball players, but with friends we also played soccer — not as something regular, just with friends — and tennis, too. But the passion was always basketball.
"Every time we finished playing a game, our father would be advising us, 'you have to be more relaxed, you should try to do this, take it like that.' There are things that as a boy you don't see, but it is important that they tell you. Afterward, you might feel good or you might feel bad, but pressure, no. He never put pressure on us.
"Only when we each decided to turn pro he instilled in us the responsibility of being a pro. 'If you are going to do this,' he would tell us, 'do it with your heart and with a lot of passion. Don't do anything halfway.'"
Coming from the exact same environment, Sebastian admires, but is not surprised by Manu's rise to fame.
"For sure, he had something more, a different talent," Sebastian said. "He is more athletic and I believe he had to see his ambitions through. Because from very young, he was already thinking of playing at a higher level, of going to Europe and then the NBA.
"In that time, we did not see the possibility of playing as a foreigner in Europe. It seemed almost impossible. But it seems to me that above having physical aptitude, he had great mental strength to achieve every objective he planted in his mind."
Web Posted: 05/02/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA050205.1D.BKNspurs.ginobili.232922762.html
San Antonio Express-News
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Keeping tabs on a little brother who works out of town is challenging. Keeping tabs on a little brother who shuttles around the country trying to help his team stay alive in the basketball playoffs, while you are doing the exact same thing — but about 6,000 miles away — that is Sebastian Ginobili's challenge these days.
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has two older brothers, Sebastian, 32, and Leandro, 35. The latter has retired from basketball. But Sebastian, or "Sepo," as he is commonly known, plays for Deportivo Libertad, a team in the first division of Argentina's professional basketball league.
Thanks to Sebastian's outstanding play — he is a penetrating guard and adept passer like his little brother — Libertad advanced to the semifinal round and tipped off a best-of-five series against defending-champion Boca Juniors on Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
On Wednesday, Manu began Game 2 of his playoff series on the bench and emerged victorious. On Thursday, Sebastian finished Game 2 of his series on the bench in a disheartening loss. Neither brother saw the other's game.
"We talk on the phone no more than once a week," Sebastian said. "I see a few of Emmanuel's games, but they do not show many of them on TV here. Sometimes the schedules do not agree and we are playing around the same time. Recently, he has been able to listen to my games on the radio, over the Internet from the little radio station in my city."
Libertad is based in Sunchales, which sits roughly 370 miles northwest of Buenos Aires and has a population of about 20,000. Sebastian returned to Argentina in May after playing in Spain for two years. He missed Argentina. He misses his little brother, too, but since Manu left for Europe seven years ago, Sebastian has grown accustomed to distance.
"For example, out of the year, we see each other 20 or 25 days," Sebastian said. "It is very little time. But it's like anything, you are going to get used to it. We have been separated like this for a while, we take advantage of those 25 days as much as possible and then, thanks to technology, we have daily contact. We chat on the computer all the time."
But this time, because both brothers traveled after Game 2, they had yet to swap stories by Saturday.
Sebastian's hair is lighter and his eyes are blue, but the two look enough alike that people sometimes shout out to him, "Manu, Manu!" on the streets of Buenos Aires. And ever since Manu led Argentina to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Sebastian fields more questions about his sibling than about himself.
"Before, it was only basketball reporters, but when he began to achieve all these things, the spectacle grew to include all the sports reporters and others," Sebastian said. "But it is a source of pride for me. It doesn't bother me if you ask me about Manu. I am happy to talk about him because first, we do the same thing and second, because he is my brother."
The Ginobili family is from the coastal town of Bahía Blanca and all three brothers started their respective professional careers at a club there called Estudiantes. Their father, Jorge, played basketball and became president of the Estudiantes while they were young. Sebastian played professionally with Leandro and later with Manu. But Leandro and Manu, separated by eight years, never played on the same pro team.
"All three of us did the same things growing up," Sebastian said. "Our second home was the club (Estudiantes) and already, from a young age, each of us had a basketball in our hand. Everyone knew us as basketball players, but with friends we also played soccer — not as something regular, just with friends — and tennis, too. But the passion was always basketball.
"Every time we finished playing a game, our father would be advising us, 'you have to be more relaxed, you should try to do this, take it like that.' There are things that as a boy you don't see, but it is important that they tell you. Afterward, you might feel good or you might feel bad, but pressure, no. He never put pressure on us.
"Only when we each decided to turn pro he instilled in us the responsibility of being a pro. 'If you are going to do this,' he would tell us, 'do it with your heart and with a lot of passion. Don't do anything halfway.'"
Coming from the exact same environment, Sebastian admires, but is not surprised by Manu's rise to fame.
"For sure, he had something more, a different talent," Sebastian said. "He is more athletic and I believe he had to see his ambitions through. Because from very young, he was already thinking of playing at a higher level, of going to Europe and then the NBA.
"In that time, we did not see the possibility of playing as a foreigner in Europe. It seemed almost impossible. But it seems to me that above having physical aptitude, he had great mental strength to achieve every objective he planted in his mind."